World Antibiotic Awareness Week

We are the future, what we do today will affect our generations to come, let’s do what is right

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Antibiotics are drugs used in treating infections bacterial infections, a more general category referred to as antimicrobials is used for drugs used to treat viral, fungal, bacterial and protozoan infections. Science have encountered an increase in resistance by bacteria to drugs used for their annihilation very rapidly and hence the need for education and awareness creation to save lives.

Antibiotic resistance is the situation whereby bacteria adapts and manages to overcome the fatal effects of these drugs, this makes their administration less effective and sometimes even useless

This is a natural process that we cannot prevent from happening no matter what, irrespective of that however, we can reduce the resistance process. Some of these bacteria are already resistant to certain drugs because of the physiological makeup and it so turns out that these bacteria can share their traits with their counterparts who do not have these traits, worsening the problem.

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What Causes Antibiotic Resistance

1. Abuse (Overuse and misuse) of antibiotics
2. Poor dumping of antibiotics
3. Improper discarding of antibiotics
4. Using antibiotics to promote growth in animals (Agriculture)
5. The accessibility of spurious drugs on the market

Types of Resistance
Multiple drug resistance; this is when the bacteria responsible for causing an infection fails to respond to two or more drug treatment process.
Extensive drug resistance; this when bacteria does not respond to most antibiotic treatments except those that may be highly toxic or has very low efficacy.
Pan drug resistance; this when bacteria does not respond to any antibiotic treatment methods.

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The Way Forward
Avoid taking antibiotics unless prescribed by your doctor or health professional
Practicing Good Hygiene
Finish prescribed course of antibiotic medication, if you feel better before than contact you Doctor first before you decide to stop
Avoid sharing left over antibiotics even if symptoms are similar to yours
Do not get rid of antibiotics by flushing them down the closest

We all have a role to play

What is @bettervision about?

@bettervision is is a project initiated by @nattybongo and friends to give back to the society the knowledge and skill acquired through the Optometric Studies in Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology, Ghana.It is an outreach system where we visit the less privileged communities to offer free eye screening services and education to the people within the community

AIMS AND OBJECTIVES
To reduce or prevent vision loss through diseases such as glaucoma, cataract and refractive errors.

To enlighten the majority of the Ghanaian population about the importance of proper visual care.

To conscientize people on the need for regular eye checks

To get more people to have their wards screened within the Critical periods of a Child’s Vision Development; thus from ages 3 to till about 10 years.

To help the blind and people with low vision live a better life within the society through education of the general public to stop stigmatization.

Our greatest gratitude goes to @fundition @adollaraday @surfyogi @girlsfoundation @bleepcoin @ackza and @wafrica for helping to make the aims and objectives of @bettervision a reality.

This is me @nattybongo reporting for @bettervision. Thanks for your time